Wednesday, October 19, 2011

7 reasons why Siri could be a breakthrough in e-learning

I thought the breakthrough in natural language would come
through games - I was wrong, it’s come through mobile. My son’s friend has a
new iPhone and asked, “What is the meaning of life?” It answered, “Chocolate”.
Rude requests get “I’m not that sort of personal assistant”. Good to see that
Apple still has a sense of humour. But it will be the serious applications that
will drive Siri.

Voice recognition is not new, Android have had it for ages,
but it was seen as something to use when driving. This is a good thing, and
undoubtedly saves lives, so on this advantage alone, Siri has a head start. But
Siri is different. It may become as common as people using earpieces, odd at
first, then annoying, then mainstream. The problem with mobile conversations is
that the person can’t see the environment in which the other is talking, so it
gets awkward; secondly people tend to talk too loud as they can’t overcome the
natural brain response that you’re talking to someone at a distance. But the
fact that Siri senses when you’ve lifted the phone to you ear is wonderful.

So what’s a natural language interface’s potential in
learning?

1. Talking means better learning

E-learning usually puts something between the learner and
content – a device. It can be a keyboard, mouse, touchscreen, joystick…
whatever. This physical device requires cognitive effort and almost certainly
distracts and diminishes the cognitive bandwidth available for attention and
processing by the learner. Ideally, there would be no such device. Voice is, in
fact, how most everyday communication takes place. We see and speak to each
other without any interloper. You didn’t have to learn to speak and listen but
you did have to spend years learning how to read, write and use computers. It’s
good to talk as it’s how we learn.

2. Siri as personal assistant

This has HUGE potential. The problem with much e-learning is
the linear, over-structured approach that lacks the flexibility to respond to
personal learning issues. These may be; getting stuck, not quite understanding
a point, needing more information, needing more depth, wanting to know why and
so on. The learner is an individual and needs variance in response. Siri may
turn out to be the ancestral Lucy that leads to systems that really do provide
powerful, personalised, adaptive learning.

3. Siri as coach

Going one step further, Siri-type coaches may help you
resolve things or lead you through a learning process with prompts that suggest
alternative sources, strategies and solutions. The Siri voice is already a
calm, slightly robotic but friendly, coach-like voice. ‘PersonaI assistant’ is
only one step away from ‘coach’, and I can see it being a coach for real, when
the software becomes really AI driven.

4. Siri as reinforcer

We’ve known since Ebbinghaus, in 1885, that we forget most
of what we try to learn and that the cure for this rapid and inevitable
forgetting is reinforcement and practice. Siri, or sons of Siri, could offer
the promise of prompts, reminders and practice that really does push knowledge
and skills from short to long term memory. It’s something that you carry with
you and ideal for spaced practice.

5. Siri and language learning

Learnosity has pioneered the use of mobiles in language
learning. You do your homework or assignments as voice and get them graded
online. Imagine using the language you’re learning and getting immediate
dialogue and feedback from Siri in that language. They say the best way to
learn a language is to get a foreign girlfriend, well this is the next best
thing, a personal assistant. Backed up with regular prompts, as in the previous
point about reinforcement, and you have a powerful, semi-immersive, language
learning system.

6. Siri and numeracy

Numeracy remains a stubborn problem in education, with
millions failing to pick up even basic skills. Here’s a way of making that dull
stuff dynamic. You talk to the phone, and it takes you through maths using
natural language. You answer with voiced answers. Analysis of your answers
prompts positive feedback and a reasonably constructed system will know your
personal level of competence, so you don’t get left behind and progress at a
rate that suits you. Siri, unlike most maths teachers could be an expert,
constructive, consistent and infinitely patient.

7. Siri as assessor

Learnosity have already used voice for assessment, but the
principle of voiced answers, checked by a language recognition system has fascinating
possibilities in all subjects. It also allows you to assess people who have
problems with written language e.g. dyslexia or physical disabilities. In any
case, all those written exams taken by kids who don’t use pen and pencils in
real life is rather odd. If you ask someone a question you expect a verbal
reply. This could be the answer to remote assessment.

Conclusion

Is this a breakthrough or false dawn? To me it feels like a
breakthrough, as itcouldchange a basic behaviour, allowing the
device to do things traditional teachers do well – talk to you, give you
answers to your questions, help you progress.It’s a breakthrough because it’s part of the consumer electronics
revolution and hasn’t come from the educational world (where breakthroughs are
rare), that means it has a chance of succeeding and becoming mainstream. I'm not saying that Siri in itself is the breakthrough, but it's the hole in the dam for natural language computing. Most
of all, it’s cool and interesting. The Siri sites showing ‘fails’ and Siri
talking to Siri, have already gone viral and viral is what we need in learning.

I have to admit I've not had the chance to use Siri myself, but I get the sense that although it's a lot better than it has been in previous applications, it is far from perfect, especially in crowded/noisy spaces. And it seems that it has particular problems with a Scots accent! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-15475989. But I would anticipate this will improve over time.

So let me get this straight ... Siri is an improvement on e-learning because it acts less like a machine and more like a human? Almost like a teacher in fact? So why on god's green earth don't we just stick with a human teacher in the first place???

Why are 'anonymous' posts always the dumbest. Siri is thousands of times CHEAPER! Your argument is akin to saying why do we want books when we have people who could write them out individually on parchments using quill pens.

I wouldn't want to suggest for a moment that Siri replaces a real teacher - however much cheaper it might be. However real teachers are sadly not available anywhere, anytime, all the time, so that's where Siri comes in. What we do need to do though is to consider what is potentially best delivered by a real teacher, and what could be left to Siri to provide.

TristramI sort of agree, but this is not about 'replacement'. Teachers are fine but teaching is not a necessary condition for learning. Hardly anything I've learnt in the last 30 years has been via a teacher. Siri simply offers scalability and powerful functionality 24/7 - something a teacher can never do.

One of the pressures most corporations and government organizations face is the constant need for training, mostly because newer versions of software, and of operating systems are always making their way to the desktop. Companies wrestle with trying to stick-handle competing priorities, such as how to schedule employees into the learning cycle, while backfilling their positions and ensuring that customer service remains constant. And then there's the cost factor: renting space, renting equipment,and hiring an on-site instructor, or contracting out the training to another facility who will manage the whole process. And that's in urban centers. Those companies with offices in remote urban locations have to figure out their costs for employee travel. It can get pretty frightening.

Enter Siri. Now, instead of a week-long trip somewhere or (worse) employees doing online courses that are pretty much inflexible and static (much like you mentioned in your blog), they can take a few minutes here or there and get some quality training with an AI interface that can speak their language - so to speak.

Additionally, the user doesn't have to figure out what apps they'll need to accomplish anything at all - because Siri works seemlessly, behind the scenes, to provide the information and prompts required at any given moment.

For sure, this technology is in its infancy - and really can't or shouldn't be compared to earlier attempts at voice recognition. But the evolutionary step represented by Siri seems pretty clear. Things won't be the same ever again.